Who:
- Actors: Jesus; God; John; Isaiah; Spirit; Satan; angels; wild beasts; disciples; crowds; sick and oppressed; some with faith; scribes/Pharisees;
- Names for Jesus: Christ; Son of God; beloved Son; Jesus of Nazareth; Son of Man; physician; bridegroom; Lord of Sabbath
- Questioners: Scribes 4.1; scribes of Pharisees 4.19; people who came 4.25; Pharisees
- Mark’s depiction of Jesus:
- -----Son of God
- -----Foretold by Isaiah
- -----Prepared/fulfilled by John
- -----Affirmed directly by God
- -----Tempted, and divinely sustained
- Purposes
- ---- Proclaim kingdom of God
- ---- Go to other towns
- ----Call the sick
- Demonstrates and claims authority
- ----Widely sought by crowds, many followers
- -----Collecting a group of disciples
- -----Provokes religious questions
- -----Definitive conflict with religious leaders
- -----Emotionally engaged: pity, anger, grief
- Jesus demonstrates authority: as he inaugurates the kingdom: life purpose (call of the 4), living scripture, unclean oppression, sickness, kingdom priorities, physically and spiritually destructive filthiness’ (leper, paralytic), who belongs (the ‘sick’), religious observance (Sabbath);
Interpretation
- In this first section Mark portrays Jesus as a man on a mission: to proclaim the kingdom of God. These stories probably comprise about the first year of Jesus’ public activity. Mark shows Jesus receiving overwhelming notice, and impact. However it is likely that this was a localized impact as there are few secular references to Jesus, eg Josephus.
- Jesus operates apart from established religious (Jerusalem and the temple cult) and secular (the major Roman city of Galilee) authorities; he seems to see himself, and the kingdom, and something new, distinct from Roman imperialism and Jewish religious practice
- Galilee was a backwater, mixed race, spoke neither Greek, Latin, of Hebrew, but Aramaic; and it is from this unspectacular area that Jesus launches his kingdom: from outside the halls of power or social respectability
- Furthermore, the people he calls to follow are rural businessmen and minor government functionaries: the fishermen, and Levy; Jesus begins his mission in an extremely unlikely manner, in the wrong place with the wrong people
- • How does Mark define Jesus’ initial sermon: the time is fulfilled, the kingdom is at hand, repent and believe?
- -----The time is now: Jesus, God’s son, foretold in scripture, confirmed by God, more powerful than Satan: Jesus is here: history is focused on Jesus
- -----The Kingdom is at hand: in the person of Jesus, demonstrated by his authority; physical proximity to Jesus = closeness to the kingdom
- -----Repent and believe: each vignette in this section can be seen as an example of repent and believe;
- How to people respond to Jesus?
- -----Many of these responses are positive:
- -------- Disciples, leper, paralytic, Levy, withered hand man, many who followed; faith is introduced, specifically in the paralytic story, but implicitly in each positive response to Jesus
- -----Some are neutral: crowds – amazed, interested, but uncommitted
- -----Some are legitimate questioners
- -----Some are negative, antagonistic, and hostile
- Jesus’ authority is central.
- -----His authority is irresistible over sickness, unclean spirits
- -----His authority over people requires voluntary response
- Jesus himself is the locus of authority: not the temple, or religious tradition, or scriptural interpretation
Jesus is, now as then, establishing the kingdom of God. It is a kingdom centered on Jesus himself, a kingdom apart from the religious and cultural presuppositions. It is a kingdom that invites positive response – like the four fishermen, Levy and his friends, the paralyzed man and his friends. But it is a kingdom that allows a variety of responses: interested and amazed like the crowds; blessed but disobedient like the leper; questioning, like the people with the fasting question; and outright rejection by people like the religious experts. It is a kingdom of power: over scripture, physical and spiritual health, religious presuppositions.
How are you responding the past weeks as we’ve begun our Make Your Mark Series?
- Glad and immediate positive response? (disciples, Levy, paralytic)
- Enthusiastic, but really doing your own thing in your own way? (leper)
- Interested, but watching from the crowds? (thronging crowds)
- Legitimate questions? (fasting question)
- Offended rejection of Jesus? (Pharisees and their scribes; Herodians)
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